Penny And Sherman

One of my favorite children’s movies is Mr. Peabody and Sherman. If you’ve never seen it before, it is full of humor, history, and life lessons–it’s one of those movies that has something for both kids and parents. 

I was working on a different version of today’s note while Silas was playing and watching Peabody and Sherman time travel around history. There is a scene that takes place during the Renaissance that caught my attention and changed the direction of my writing.

During a stop in the Renaissance to charge the Wayback Machine, their time travel machine, with Leonardo da Vinci, Sherman and his friend Penny get into a little mischief when they take da Vinci’s prototype plane for a short flight and ultimately destroy history’s first plane.

Penny, being the risk taker and slightly mischievous, launches the plane into the air and the two begin flying the plane. Eventually, she looks to Sherman and tells him to take over flying the plane and after he refuses to take control, she lets go of the controls which sends the plane into a spiral toward the ground.

As they speed towards the ground, Sherman explains how he doesn’t know how to fly and how he can’t take over the controls–to which Penny says, “You can do it. I know you can. Come on Sherman, fly…”.

Penny stands her ground, she doesn’t grab the controls, and just waits…just as the plane is about to hit the ground, Sherman grabs the controls, pulls up, and the plane resumes its flight—the first flight in history.

Penny knew Sherman had it in him and she was going to make him see it himself.

Throughout the rest of the movie, Penny continues to push Sherman out of his comfort zone helping him to grow and experience life in ways he never would have without her. The two, along with Mr. Peabody, continue to get into trouble throughout the movie, but in each situation Sherman steps out of his comfort zone, learns new lessons, and more importantly grows as a person.

From time to time, we all need a Penny to push us out of our comfort zone. It’s easy to get comfortable and complacent in life, especially when things seem to be going well. However, it’s outside our comfort zone where we grow and learn more about ourselves–our experience enhances when we spend time being uncomfortable or doing something we don’t really want to do.

When Penny comes to push you, embrace her encouragement and look at the discomfort as an opportunity for growth and enjoy the process. 

And as we’ve talked about the Universe’s preference of balance, don’t forget to be Penny for someone else.

See you tomorrow and keep pursuing,

JC